The Office (2005 TV series)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion: When Michael thinks Dwight has betrayed him to Charles (Idris Elba), he checks him for a wire in the parking lot.
    • In "Money", Creed reveals that whenever he gets into debt he dumps it all on his alter ego, "William Charles Schneider": Creed Bratton's real life birth name.
      • Furthermore in "A Benihana Christmas", Creed can be seen singing "Spinnin' and Reelin'", a song by Creed Bratton.
      • In a deleted scene from "Booze Cruise", Creed talks about being the lead guitarist of the 1960's folk group the Grass Roots (best known for their hit "Let's Live for Today"), which Creed Bratton actually was.
    • In the Season 6 Christmas episode, Michael is annoyed that Phyllis is the Santa, so he dresses up as Jesus. This is not Steve Carell's first encounter with the Lord.
    • In "Cafe Disco", Michael lip-syncs to "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", just like Steve Carrell did during the end credits of Evan Almighty.
  • Actor Shared Background: Pam brags to Jim that she types 90 words per minute. Jenna Fischer's typing is this fast, and she worked as a receptionist. Angela Kinsey also worked in an office, for 1800Dentist.
  • Billing Displacement:
    • B.J. Novak as Ryan - He's in the opening titles and is on the front of the DVD packaging, but has increasingly decreased in prominence as the show has gone on. This has largely been due to the increasing role he's played behind the scenes of the show.
    • Arguably, Ed Helms' Andy as of Season 8. Thanks to The Hangover movies Helms is probably the biggest "name" on the show post-Carell, and his character is now the office manager, but (perhaps for contractual reasons) he's still billed behind Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Novak. Even newcomer James Spader, whose role is only a recurring one, bests him with an And Starring credit.
  • Bonus Material: There are a number of webisodes and extra scenes offered online on the NBC website or Hulu.
    • Interesting example, as deleted scenes are still considered canon by the cast and creators. This is more common now, what with the rise of "webisodes" and freely available online content, but The Office premiered at a time when deleted scenes were largely only available on DVD releases.
  • The Cast Showoff: Ed Helms.
    • This really seems to come off as a parody of this trope, considering how often he does it for no particular reason and how even the rest of the cast tends to see it as extremely annoying. In one episode when Andy plays a part in a musical, Jim and Pam point out that it's enjoyable listening to him sing... in a setting that's actually appropriate for it.
    • Averted with Creed, despite his Grass Roots pedigree he almost never participates in the many musical interludes the cast indulge in.
  • Cast the Expert: Andy Buckley, who plays former-CFO David Wallace, is a Real Life stock-broker.
  • The Danza: Phyllis, Angela and Oscar. Creed may be a Danza, but lives in As Himself and Adam Westing territory.
  • Deleted Scene/DVD Bonus Content: A crapload of canonical, extra features, and webisodes can be found online at NBC's Office website.
  • Development Gag: Charles Miner said he use to work for Saticoy Steel. The Office is filmed at Chandler Valley Studios, which is located on a Saticoy Street.
  • Directed by Cast Member:
    • Paul Lieberstein, 7 episodes ("Money", "Two Weeks", "Gossip", "Whistleblower", "Sex Ed", "Training Day", "The Incentive").
    • Steve Carell, 3 episodes ("Broke", "Secretary's Day", "Garage Sale").
    • B.J. Novak, 3 episodes ("Scott's Tots", "The Seminar", "The List").
    • Rainn Wilson, 2 episodes ("The Cover Up", "Classy Christmas").
    • Mindy Kaling, 2 episodes ("Body Language", "Michael's Last Dundies").
    • John Krasinski, 2 episodes ("Sabre", "Lotto").
    • Ed Helms, 1 episode ("Christmas Wishes").
    • Lieberstein has also been the showrunner since Season 5, and many additional episodes have been written by various cast members.
  • Edited for Syndication: In the TBS version of "Performance Review", Dwight wonders if the suggestion "Don't Sleep with your Boss" refers to "You boning Jan". In the syndicated version he says "You doing Jan".
    • Also, in "Sexual Harassment", Michael says "The only thing I am worried about is getting a boner." In the syndicated version he said "The only thing I am worried about is getting a shwing."
    • Episode "Koi Pond" had its cold opening removed which involved a fake hanging by Michael and was also omitted from DVD release. Fortunately, the clip can still be seen on the official site.
  • Executive Meddling: The reason why the pilot episode is an Americanized version of the British pilot episode.
    • Going into the eighth season, there was some meddling with Michael/Deangelo's replacement. NBC apparently wanted Catherine Tate to replace them, and James Spader to replace Jo Bennet, with more frequent appearances. Only the second one went through.
  • Fake American: Idris Elba (Charles) is actually British. The character seems vaguely transatlantic, especially in terms of accent, and anyone who's seen The Wire knows Elba could have done a much more convincing American accent if he'd wanted to. Charles is also an avid soccer fan.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Dwight's new best friend Rolf in Season 5's finale is freakin' Rusty Venture.
    • Champ Kind's first appearance as Todd Packer was over the phone.
  • Hide Your Pregnancy:
    • Angela Kinsey (who plays Angela Martin) had a baby in May 2008, forcing the writers to do this. It's noticeable late in Season 4, if you notice the face of normally super-thin Angela is a little larger than usual. You also pretty much never see her from the shoulders down. It was originally intended for her pregnancy to become part of a story arc, with the baby being Dwight's. However, the Writers' Strike killed that idea.
    • Averted in Season 8, when Jenna Fischer and Pam were both pregnant.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: The scenes with Kevin and the shredder from "The Merger" and the cold open from the episode "Koi Pond" (the one with the haunted warehouse) have not only been edited out of their respective episodes for reruns, but also omitted from DVDs (even the "deleted scenes" features don't include them). They can still be found online.
  • Life Imitates Art: There is a real Dunder Mifflin paper. It's produced by Quill Corporation, and sold (in the United States) at Staples.
  • Marathon Running: When cable channel TBS secured the rerun rights to the show, they made a habit of airing four or six episodes in a row one day a week, instead of one episode a day. This lead to a lampshading on an episode of Futurama... the Planet Express ship is converted to a passenger ship. When one passenger gets upset at the inflight entertainment provided by Dr Zoiberg, she yells "Turn down the lights and put on four episodes of The Office!"
    • That joke could also reflect the fact that many airlines show Office episodes as in-flight entertainment.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Two different actresses have played Pam's mom.
    • Andy's parents are also portrayed by two different sets of people in "Goodbye, Toby" and "Garden Party".
  • Stunt Directing: Seasons 3 and 4 had notable people behind the camera including Harold Ramis, Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams and Jason Reitman.
  • Talking to Himself: Michael in "Ultimatum".
  • Technology Marches On: The Dunder-Mifflin Infinity Website.
    • Computron!
  • Throw It In: Many instances, especially in the talking head segments. There's always a complete script, but once the written dialogue has been shot, the actors are free improvise if they wish to do so. According to Word of God, Rainn Wilson particularly likes to improvise, noting, "Rainn has never not given an alternate version."
  • What Could Have Been: Indie darling Zooey Deschanel was apparently offered a regular role on the show for Season 8, but ultimately turned it down in favor of the lead in the FOX sitcom New Girl.
  • Written by Cast Member: Paul Liebestein, Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak were on the writing staff from the beginning. Steve Carrell later wrote "Survivor Man" and Season 2 finale "Casino Night".
  • You Look Familiar: Blake Garrett Rosenthal, who played Dwight's nephew from the Season 9 episode "The Farm", was originally in the Season 7 episode "WUHPF.com" as a child on the hayride.


  • Several The Daily Show alums have appeared on the American version of the show. There are the obvious stars Steve Carell and Ed Helms, but also Rob Corrdry, Beth Littleford, and the aforementioned Wyatt Cenac have had minor roles or were reoccurring characters. Even Stephen Colbert makes a cameo appearance in one episode of the ninth season.
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